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on Neuroeconomics |
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Issue of 2016‒06‒18
four papers chosen by |
| By: | Anger, Silke; Schnitzlein, Daniel D. |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates sibling correlations in cognitive and non-cognitive skills to evaluate the importance of family background for skill formation. Based on a large representative German dataset including IQ test scores and measures of non-cognitive skills, a restricted maximum likelihood model indicates a strong relationship between family background and skill formation. Sibling correlations in non-cognitive skills range from 0.22 to 0.46; therefore, at least one-fifth of the variance in these skills results from shared sibling-related factors. Sibling correlations in cognitive skills are higher than 0.50; therefore, more than half of the inequality in cognition can be explained by shared family background. Comparing these findings with those in the intergenerational skill transmission literature suggests that intergenerational correlations capture only part of the influence of family on children's cognitive and non-cognitive skills, as confirmed by decomposition analyses and in line with previous findings on educational and income mobility. |
| Keywords: | sibling correlations,family background,non-cognitive skills,cognitive skills,intergenerational mobility |
| JEL: | J24 J62 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:bamber:110&r=neu |
| By: | Bhalotra, Sonia (University of Essex); Karlsson, Martin (University of Duisburg-Essen); Nilsson, Therese (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the potential of an infant intervention to improve life expectancy, contributing to emerging interest in the early life origins of chronic disease. We analyse a pioneering program trialled in Sweden in the 1930s, which provided information, support and monitoring of infant care. Using birth certificate data from parish records matched to death registers, we estimate that the average duration of program exposure in infancy led to a 1.54% point decline in the risk of infant death (23% of baseline risk) and a 2.37% decline in the risk of dying by age 75 (6.5% of baseline risk). |
| Keywords: | Maternal care; Infant care; Early life interventions; Barker Hypothesis; Program |
| JEL: | H41 I15 I18 |
| Date: | 2016–05–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1124&r=neu |
| By: | Mark Hoekstra; Pierre Mouganie; Yaojing Wang |
| Abstract: | Despite strong demand for attending high schools with better peers, there is mixed evidence on whether doing so improves academic outcomes. We estimate the cognitive returns to high school quality using administrative data on a high-stakes college entrance exam in China. To overcome selection bias, we use a regression discontinuity design that compares applicants barely above and below high school admission thresholds. Results indicate that while peer quality improves significantly across all sets of admission cutoffs, the only increase in performance occurs from attending Tier I high schools. Further evidence suggests that the returns to high school quality are driven by teacher quality, rather than peer quality or class size. |
| JEL: | I21 I24 I26 J24 |
| Date: | 2016–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22337&r=neu |
| By: | Yange Xue; Margaret Burchinal; Anamarie Auger; Hsiao-Chuan Tien; Andrew Mashburn; Ellen Peisner-Feinberg; Elizabeth W. Cavadel; Martha Zaslow; Louisa Tarullo |
| Abstract: | In this chapter, we turn to the question of whether there is evidence of an association between children's development and the quantity or dosage of ECE across several large studies. |
| Keywords: | quality thresholds, dosage outcomes, early care, education, testing |
| JEL: | I |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:30a9d36f04f04669aaf2cc4c24a7d14b&r=neu |